System, apparatus and method for providing partial presence notifications

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented apparatus and method for communicating partial notifications relating to a presentity&#39;s presence information. The communication may be effected between presence servers and terminals coupled to the presence servers via a network. At least one presentity is identified to which a terminal has requested presence services. A presence document is created, where the presence document includes presence information corresponding to the presentity. The presence information is configured as partial presence information comprising less than a total of the presence information available for the presentity. The presence document having the partial presence information is communicated to the terminal requesting the presence information.

This application is a continuation of prior application Ser. No.10/196,327, filed Jul. 16, 2002, the content of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates in general to communications, and moreparticularly to a system and method for communicating partialnotifications relating to a presentity's presence information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobile and landline/wireline computing devices have in recent yearsbecome a valuable tool in day-to-day communications. Desktop computers,workstations, and other wireline computers currently allow users tocommunicate via e-mail, video conferencing, and instant messaging (IM)to name a few communication applications. Mobile devices, such as mobiletelephones, handheld computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc.also assist in day-to-day communication. Mobile/wireless telephones haveconventionally served as voice communication devices, but throughtechnological advancements have recently proved to be effective devicesfor communicating data, graphics, etc. Wireless and landlinetechnologies continue to merge into a more unified communication system,as user demand for seamless communications across different platformsincreases.

Many communication applications allow for real-time or near real-timecommunication that falls outside of the traditional voice communicationassociated with wireline and wireless telephone communications. Chatsessions, instant messaging, Short Message Service (SMS), videoconferencing, are but a few such communication vehicles. Many of thesetypes of communications have been well-received by the communicatingpublic, and are expected to become increasingly popular, particularly inview of the proliferation of wireless devices and continualtechnological breakthroughs.

In order to implement such technologies, “presence” technology is usedto determine the location, willingness to communicate, and otherparameters relating to real-time or near real-time communications.Presence technology generally refers to applications and services thatfacilitate location and identification of one or more endpoints to suchcommunication links. For example, if a user of a wireless, handhelddevice would like to initiate an IM session with another IM user,presence services may be used to present users' willingness to receiveIM messages. Presence services are an integral part of third generation(3 G) wireless networks, and are intended to be employed across a widevariety of communication devices.

Current presence service technology includes the concepts ofpresentities, presence servers, and watchers. Generally, a presentitycan provide information as to its “presence” (e.g., location,willingness to communicate at a certain time or with certain users,etc.). This information can be collected and utilized by presenceservers, that can notify authorized “watchers” who are interested inpresence information that certain presence information is available.Watcher applications may be implemented in wireline and wirelessterminals to obtain presence information from the presence servers aboutother users. This may come in the form of a notification, issued to thewatcher by the presence server.

Conventionally, notifications to users/watchers that a targeteduser/device has become available have been sent as complete presenceinformation. In other words, there are a number of different pieces ofpresence information that are associated with the totality of thepresence information, and original or updated notifications result insending all of the presence information to the notification-subscribingusers who are “watching” for the particular presence information. Forexample, in current IETF presence format specifications such as theCommon Profile for Instant Messaging (CPIM) Presence Information DataFormat (PIDF), all presence information is sent regardless of whetherportions of the information being sent are already available to thewatcher. In some environments, such as wireless environments, sendingall of the presence information when only some portion of theinformation has changed may not be a favorable option, as the availablebandwidth is typically significantly lower than in a fixed Internetenvironment.

Existing presence specifications do not provide any indication whethersome data received earlier has become invalid. This can occur where, forexample, watchers change filtering information, presentities changepresence authorization levels, and presence attributes becomeunavailable on networks. Furthermore, the existing specifications do notprovide versioning information, which is needed if presence informationis delivered using multiple application protocols, becauseprotocol-specific versioning mechanisms cannot be used in suchinstances.

Accordingly, there is a need in the communications industry for a moreefficient and convenient manner of providing presence information. Thepresent invention fulfills these and other needs, and offers otheradvantages over the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a system, apparatus and method forcommunicating partial notifications relating to a presentity's presenceinformation.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a method is providedfor communicating presence information between presence servers andterminals coupled to the presence servers via a network. The methodincludes identifying at least one presentity to which a terminal hasrequested presence services. A presence document is created, where thepresence document includes presence information corresponding to thepresentity. The presence information is configured as partial presenceinformation comprising less than a total of the presence informationavailable for the presentity. The presence document having the partialpresence information is communicated to the terminal requesting thepresence information.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a method isprovided for notifying client terminals of presence information. Themethod includes creating a presence document for use by at least oneterminal requesting presence information regarding a presentity.Creating a presence document includes creating at least one tuple,wherein the tuple includes a version value indicating a version of thetuple relative to previous versions of the tuple, and associatingpresence information with the tuple, wherein the presence informationcomprises a subset of the presentity's complete set of presenceinformation. The presence document is sent to the client terminalrequesting the presence information, where the version value providedvia the tuple is compared to a current version value stored on theclient terminal. The client terminal is directed to update presenceinformation associated with the tuple, if the version value provided viathe tuple indicates new presence information is available for thattuple.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a presenceawareness system is provided. The system includes at least one terminalhaving a watcher application that watches for presence informationcorresponding to a presentity. At least one presence server is provided,which is coupled to the terminal via a network. The presence serverincludes a processor configured to identify at least one presentity towhich the watcher application has requested presence services. Via theprocessor (and other computing elements), a presence document includingthe presence information corresponding to the presentity is provided.The presence information is configured as partial presence informationhaving less than the total of the presence information available for thepresentity. The presence document having the partial presenceinformation is communicated to the watcher application of the terminalrequesting the presence information.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a presenceserver is provided, where the presence server is coupled to a pluralityof terminals via a network. The presence server communicates presenceinformation to one or more of the plurality of terminals via thenetwork. The presence server includes a memory configured to storepresence information for a plurality of presentities, and to storeterminal subscriptions for terminals authorized to receive the presenceinformation for one or more of the presentities. A processing system isprovided with the presence server, and is configured to identify atleast one presentity to which a particular terminal has subscribed, andto create a presence document including the presence informationcorresponding to the presentity, where the presence information isconfigured as partial presence information corresponding to a subset ofa set of presence information available for the presentity. A datatransmission module is coupled to the processing system to communicatethe partial presence information via the presence document to thesubscribing terminal over the network.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, acomputer-implemented method is provided, where a computer-readablemedium has stored thereon computer-executable instructions forcommunicating presence information between presence servers andterminals coupled to the presence servers via a network. Theinstructions may be executed to communicate presence information betweenpresence servers and terminals coupled to the presence servers via anetwork, and to identify at least one presentity to which a terminal hasrequested presence services. The instructions facilitate creation of apresence document, where the presence document includes presenceinformation corresponding to the presentity, and where the presenceinformation is configured as partial presence information comprisingless than a total of the presence information available for thepresentity. The instructions further facilitate communicating thepresence document having the partial presence information to theterminal requesting the presence information.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, acomputer-implemented method is provided, where a computer-readablemedium has stored thereon computer-executable instructions for notifyingclient terminals of presence information. The instructions may beexecuted to create a presence document for use by at least one terminalrequesting presence information regarding a presentity, where thecreation of the presence document involves creating at least one tuplethat includes a version value indicating a version of the tuple relativeto previous versions of the tuple. The instructions facilitateassociation of presence information with the tuple, where the presenceinformation includes a subset of the presentity's complete set ofpresence information. The instructions facilitate transmission of thepresence document to the client terminal requesting the presenceinformation, where the version value provided via the tuple is comparedto a current version value stored on the client terminal. Theinstructions direct the client terminal to update presence informationassociated with the tuple, if the version value provided via the tupleindicates new presence information is available for that tuple.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a computer data signalis embodied in a carrier wave or otherwise transmitted by a computingsystem which encodes a computer program for communicating presenceinformation between presence servers and terminals coupled to thepresence servers via a network. The computer program includesinstructions for identifying at least one presentity to which a terminalhas requested presence services, creating a presence document includingpresence information corresponding to the presentity, configuring thepresence information as partial presence information comprising lessthan a total of the presence information available for the presentity,and communicating the presence document having the partial presenceinformation to the terminal requesting the presence information.

The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describeeach illustrated embodiment or implementation of the present invention.This is the purpose of the representative figures and associateddiscussion which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described in connection with the embodimentsillustrated in the following diagrams.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a representative presence servicesystem in which the principles of the present invention are applicable;

FIG. 2 illustrates a representative messaging flow that may be used inconnection with the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a representative namespace extension facilitating theuse of partial notifications in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a representative program segment implementing oneembodiment of the namespace extension in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment forproviding partial notifications to a watcher application in accordancewith the invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of amethod for processing presence information received at a client devicein accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of amethod for communicating information between presence servers andterminals coupled to the presence servers via a network, independent ofany particular interface format;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a representative mobile terminalcomputing system capable of carrying out operations in accordance withthe invention; and

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a representative computing systemcapable of supplying presence information in accordance with theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patentdisclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent fileor records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights and associatedcopyright ownership privileges.

In the following description of the exemplary embodiment, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in whichis shown by way of illustration the specific embodiment in which theinvention may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized, as structural and operational changes maybe made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Generally, the present invention provides a manner for communicatingpresence information. Presence information is created at a presenceserver or associated system, where the presence information isconfigured as partial presence information that includes less than allof the status information relating to the presentity. In this manner,presence information that has already been transferred to a watcherapplication need not be unnecessarily transmitted from presence serversto client watcher applications.

A number of entities are generally implemented in a presence servicearchitecture. A presentity is an entity that provides presenceinformation. Another entity is a presence server, which receivespresence information from presentities. A watcher is an entity that isinterested in presence information. A representative embodiment of apresence service architecture is shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a representative presence servicesystem 100 in which the principles of the present invention areapplicable. In the illustrated embodiment, the presence service system100 is implemented as an IP multimedia subsystems (IMS) network, wherewatcher and presentity presence proxy functionalities are mapped to IMSnetwork elements when located within the IMS.

The presence server 102 manages presence information provided by one ormore presence suppliers 104, such as presence user agents and externalpresence agents, as well as presence information provided by the network(i.e., location information). The presence server 102 combinespresence-related information for a particular presentity from theinformation it receives from multiple presence suppliers 104 into asingle presence document, based on presence attributes and policiesdefined in the presence server 102. Users can then make subscriptionrequests for presence information available at the presence server 102.As described more fully below, the users, acting as watchers, can makesubscription requests for receiving the presence information availablefrom the presentity at the presence server 102. The presentity can alsomake a subscription request for receiving the information about thewatchers that had subscribed to its presence information in the presenceserver 102.

The Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 106 serves as a master database andmanages information relating to the mobile subscriber, such as userprofile information. The HSS 106 may support a subscription profile thatidentifies information for a given subscriber such as user identities,subscribed services and profiles, service-specific information, mobilitymanagement information, authorization information, and the like. The HSS106 is analogous to the second generation (2 G) Home Location Register(HLR), but also includes information such as location information thatcan be used to develop location-based services. Third generation (3 G)HLRs are a subset of the HSS 106.

The presence service system 100 also includes watcher applications, suchas watcher applications 108 and 110. Watcher applications are entitiesthat request and/or subscribe to presence information relating to one ormore presentities. When a watcher application intends to access somepresence information of a presentity, it obtains the address (e.g., SIPURL) where the request is targeted, and the presence server containingthis presence information can therefore be found via the network. Thepresentity presence proxy 112 assists in this regard, as it determinesthe identity of the presence server 102 associated with a particularpresentity. Further, the watcher presence proxy 114 performs (amongother things) address resolution and identification of target networksassociated with a presentity. Other functions of the watcher presenceproxy 114 and presentity presence proxy 112 depend on, for example, therelative location and trust relations of the watcher application 108 andthe presence server 102.

Each of the proxies 112, 114 may include various Call State ControlFunction (CSCF) modules. The watcher presence proxy 114 includes a proxyCSCF (P-CSCF) 116, and a serving CSCF (S-CSCF) 118. The S-CSCF 118performs and/or assists in performing a number of functions, includingcontrolling sessions for the user equipment/watcher application,obtaining the address of CSCFs in the presentity presence proxy 112 andof the P-CSCF 116, forwarding SIP requests/responses to and from thepresentity presence proxy 112, triggering and executing services,authentication, etc. The P-CSCF 116 serves as the point of contact forthe watcher application 108, and performs and/or assists in performingfunctions such as translation, security, authorization, etc.

The presentity presence proxy 112 also includes an S-CSCF 120, as wellas an interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF) 122. The I-CSCF 122 serves as a pointof contact in the home network for connections destined to a subscriberof that home network or roaming subscribers currently located withinthat network's service area. The I-CSCF 122 performs a number offunctions, including assigning a serving CSCF 120 to a user performingregistration, contacting the HSS 106 to obtain the S-CSCF 120 address,and forwarding SIP requests/responses to the S-CSCF 120.

In the system 100 of FIG. 1, there are two alternative locations forwatcher applications in an IMS network. A first watcher application 108may be located within a User Equipment (UE) terminal registered in thenetwork. In the illustrated embodiment, the watcher application 108 canregister with the network by registering to the S-CSCF 118 via theP-CSCF 116, such as is specified in standard IMS procedures. Anotherwatcher application 110 may be associated with an application server 124behind an ISC interface 126 which is described more fully below. Theapplication server 124 may be used to augment the watcher presence proxy114 functionality, by allowing a watcher application 110 to subscribe toseveral presentities using a single subscription request.

The presence service system 100 includes a number of IMS interfaces,which implement the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) in one embodiment.The IMS interfaces associated with the illustrated architecture arereferred to as reference points. A reference point P_(x), depicted oninterface line 128, represents the interface between a presentitypresence proxy 112 and a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 106. Thisinterface assists in the location of the presence server 102 of thepresentity. This particular reference point P_(x) is a C_(x) interface,as a C_(x) interface supports information transfer between CSCFs and theHSS 106. The HSS manages location information (among other things), andthe C_(x) interface thus supports the transfer of at least locationinformation between the HSS 106, and the I-CSCF 122 and S-CSCF 120.

Another reference point P_(w), depicted on interface segments 130A,130B, and 130C, represents the interface between watcher application 108and the presence server 102. This interface allows a watcher applicationto request and obtain presence information. In one embodiment of theinvention, this interface is compliant with Common Profile for InstantMessaging (CPIM) specifications using the Presence Information DataFormat (PIDF), and may be implemented using SIP for example. A firstinterface segment 130A of P_(w) is a G_(m) interface, which allows thewatcher application 108 to communicate with the P-CSCF 116. A secondinterface segment 130B of P_(w) is a M_(w) interface, which allows CSCFsto interface with one another. The M_(w) interface therefore facilitatescommunication between the S-CSCF 118 of the watcher presence proxy 114with the I-CSCF 122 of the presentity presence proxy 112. Anotherinterface segment 130C of P_(w) is an IMS Service Control Interface(ISC) which is a reference point between a CSCF and a server. The ISCinterface thus allows the S-CSCF 120 to communicate with the presenceserver 102. Alternatively, the watcher presence proxy 114 S-CSCF 118 maydirectly communicate with another watcher application 110 via an ISCinterface 126.

When a watcher application 108 requests presence information, this canbe accomplished using, for example, the CPIM PIDF interface definition.A request for information is transmitted from, for example, the watcherapplication 108 to the presence server 102. If the presence server 102authorizes the subscription, presence notifications are permitted to besent back to the watcher application 108. These notifications may berepeatedly sent to each subscribing watcher application each time thestate of the presentity changes.

FIG. 2 illustrates a representative messaging flow 200 that may be usedin connection with the present invention. The messaging flow 200describes a representative example of how a watcher can obtain presenceinformation for one or more presentities. The example illustrates anumber of network elements, networks, and standards that are part of theIMS domain 201, including a User Equipment (UE) terminal 202, a RadioAccess Network (RAN) 204, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)/DynamicHost Configuration Protocol (DHCP) entity 206, a P-CSCF 208, a presenceserver 210, and a Domain Name Server (DNS) 212. The UE 202 represents adevice(s) that may include a watcher application that is desirous ofobtaining presence information. The RAN 204 is a 3 G network thatprovides mobile access to a number of core networks of both mobile andfixed origin—it is the network that bridges the radio link and the IPcore network.

The GPRS/DHCP 206 represents exemplary communications standards that maybe used in the IMS domain 201. GPRS is a packet-switched wirelesscommunication standard for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)that mirrors the Internet model and enables seamless transition towards3 G networks. GPRS provides actual packet radio access for mobile GSMand time-division multiple access (TDMA) users, and is ideal forWireless Application Protocol (WAP) services. However, any appropriateIP-connectivity network could be implemented other than GPRS. DHCP is anIP addressing discovery methodology that provides a mechanism throughwhich devices, such as the UE 202, can obtain TCP/IP configurationsettings automatically through the network. The UE 202 can contact aDHCP server by broadcasting a request packet on the RAN 204 to obtainits configuration parameters. The DHCP server allocates an IP address tothe UE 202, and provides certain parameters. These IP addresses andconfiguration parameters are leased to the UE 202 rather than beingstatically assigned as in the case of static IP addressing, therebyreducing the work required to administer a large network. The DHCP,apart from providing the IP address for the UE, can also provide the IPaddress of the P-CSCF that is the first network entity that the UEcontacts for accessing the IMS core network. The DNS 212 represents aname server that resolves a logical name (Fully-Qualified Domain Name;FQDN) into an IP address(es) of the corresponding Internet address.Other IP addressing discovery methodologies other than DHCP may also beused.

A SUBSCRIBE request depicted on path 214 is provided from a watcherapplication in the UE 202 to the P-CSCF 210, via the RAN 204 andGPRS/DHCP 206 address discovery. The SUBSCRIBE request is used toexpress the watcher application's interest in the target presentity'spresence information, and thus identifies the target presentity in therequest URI. The P-CSCF 208 forwards the SUBSCRIBE request to thepresence server 210, as illustrated by path 216. The presence server 210receives the request, and authorizes (and in some cases may alsoauthenticate) the subscription. If the subscription is authorized, thepresence server 210 responds by providing a return code of OK shown onpath 218, which in turn is forwarded by the P-CSCF 208 to the UE 202 asshown on path 220. At this point, the UE 202 is watching for presenceinformation from the target presentity.

A NOTIFY message shown on path 222 is sent by the presence server 210 tothe P-CSCF 208, and then on to the UE 202 via the P-CSCF 208 as shown onpath 224, in order to propagate the presence information of the targetpresentity. This information includes the state of the presentity and ofthe subscription. The NOTIFY message thus informs the watcher in the UE202 when the presence information of the presentity to which it hassubscriptions has been initiated or has subsequently changed. If thepresence information was received and processed correctly, the UE 202responds with an OK message shown on path 226, which is received andforwarded on path 228 to the presence server 210.

In accordance with conventional presence specifications and practices,the NOTIFY messages will include all presence information relating tothe presentity or presentities to which the UE 202 has subscribed. Forexample, the existing CPIM PIDF specification specifies that the entirepresence information is to be sent each time a NOTIFY message is sent.This, however, may not be desirable or practical in some environments,such as wireless networks. In such environments, sending the completepresence document when only some part of the document has changed isundesirable, largely due to the relatively limited bandwidth in wirelessenvironments. The present invention solves this problem, and mitigatesthe superfluous transfer of presence information that is alreadyavailable at the UE watchers.

In accordance with the present invention, presence servers providepartial notifications regarding the presentity's presence state. UE suchas mobile terminals can receive these partial notifications. Whilepresence information includes the presentity's communication means, thepresentity's ability and willingness to communicate, and otherattributes, only changed portions of this information is sent, therebyminimizing valuable bandwidth consumption. The present inventionprovides an extension to current notification specifications and anyanalogous notification practices, by providing for the use of partialpresence notifications. The invention provides for the ability toindicate that only a portion of the presence information that has beenpreviously received is no longer valid, and also provides better supportfor presence information versioning.

In one embodiment of the invention, currently existing presencespecifications can still be used to provide the bulk of the presenceinformation. Thus, all current parsers and specifications can be used,as the present invention provides an extension to existingspecifications. The extension can be defined in a manner that it doesnot cause interoperability problems with presence implementations thatdo not recognize the extension. The invention also facilitatesversioning, as one embodiment of the invention provides its ownversioning support. This provides independence of application levelprotocols used to transport presence documents.

The present invention is described in connection with IMS, SIP, and theCPIM PIDF specification (draft-ieft-impp-cpim-pdif-05.txt; incorporatedherein in its entirety) in order to facilitate an understanding of theinvention. It will become readily apparent to those skilled in the artfrom the description provided herein that while the present invention isdescribed in terms of an existing presence specification, namely theCPIM PIDF specification, the present invention is equally applicable toother presence information data formats.

FIG. 3 illustrates a representative namespace extension facilitating theuse of partial notifications in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention. The representative namespace extension is depicted inthe form of a table for purposes of facilitating an understanding ofvarious elements and attributes associated with such an extension, andthe tabular form is not intended to represent any particular datastructure associated with such information. Further, the representativenamespace extension is described in the context of IMS as an extensionto the CPIM PIDF using eXtensible Markup Language (XML). However, theprinciples described herein can similarly be applied to analogoussystems, presence information data formats, and programming languages.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 3, the extension namespace includesvarious elements, including a version 300, action 308, and mode 310. Theversion element 300 can be used to identify the version of the entirepresence document, or a single presence tuple. When used at the presencedocument level 302, the version parameter can provide versioning supportacross different application protocols, such as SIP, HTTP, etc. Whenused at the tuple level 304, the version parameter provides informationto the watcher indicating whether the particular tuple should be updatedor not. A particular example of the use of the version element, both atthe document and tuple level, is subsequently provided in connectionwith FIG. 4.

The action element 306 can be used within a tuple to indicate an actionto be taken by the client on that particular tuple. Representativevalues associated with the action element 306 include the removed 308,and empty 310 values. For example, the removed 308 value may indicatethat the presence server no longer has the particular presenceinformation for this tuple for whatever reason, and the client canignore or remove the information associated with this tuple. The empty310 value may indicate that the client is to empty the currently-storedpresence information corresponding to that tuple. Any other 312 desiredvalue can also be used to correspond to desired actions 306.

The mode attribute element 314 can be used at the document level toindicate whether the notification is for an update of a portion of thepresence information, or whether the notification is to provide acomplete presence state. Furthermore, attributes having standard valuesmay be provided. To provide common behavior in the UE and to facilitateinteroperability, a set of well-defined values (e.g., No_change,No_value, etc.) may be standardized as part of the extension namespace.For example, a No_change attribute can be used to indicate that theclient should retain its current value that it previously received. ANo_value attribute can be used to indicate that the element is availablefor the client, but the presence server cannot currently provide a valuefor it. An example of how such standard attribute values may be used isdescribed in connection with FIG. 4 below.

Using the extension namespace and associated elements described above,notifications can be provided including only partial presenceinformation updates. Additional, fewer, or different elements andattributes may also be associated with the partial notificationextension of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a representative program segment 400 implementing oneembodiment of the namespace extension in accordance with the presentinvention. The representative program segment is described in terms ofeXtensible Markup Language (XML) to illustrate an exemplary manner inwhich the principles of the present invention may be implemented.However, those skilled in the art will appreciate from the descriptionprovided herein that other programming languages may be used toimplement such functions.

The programming segment 400 includes the XML processing instruction andencoding declaration 402. The body of the representative XML documentincludes the root presence element 404. This element 404 includes atleast one tuple element and extension elements from other namespaces,described more fully below. The presence element 404 includes namespacedeclarations, including the namespace declaration 408 to indicate thenamespace on which the presence document is based. The namespacedeclarations can include other namespace declarations for the extensionsused. In the illustrated embodiment, two other namespace declarations410, 412 are provided for the extensions used. Namespace declaration 410relates to instant messaging, and namespace declaration 412 relates tothe partial notification extension in accordance with the presentinvention, and is named “PE” (i.e., Presence Extension) in theillustrated embodiment. The presence element 404 also includes an entityattribute 414. Presence information is identified by a presentity or“pres” URL of the presentity. The value of the entity attribute 414 isthe “pres” URL of the presentity that is publishing the presencedocument, which in the illustrated embodiment is someone@example.com.

In accordance with the present invention, a version element 416 isprovided at the presence document level. The version element 416 can beused to identify the version of the entire presence document, where theassociated version parameter 418 provides versioning support acrossapplication protocols. For example, if the presence document has aversion parameter 418 of “3,” this indicates that the notification isthe third notification in that particular subscription. Theclient/watcher will have a stored version parameter that can be comparedto the version parameter 418. This can be used to determine whether alltuples should be obtained from the presence server, rather than onlythose that might be designated specifically in the otherwise partialnotification. For example, if the version parameter 418 has a value thatis greater than the value stored at the client by two or more, thiswould indicate that the client has fallen out of synchronization withthe presence server. In such a case, the client should fetch allpresence tuples from the presence server.

Version elements may also be used at the tuple level, such that versionparameters are provided within one or more individual presence tuples.The version element 420, which is structured within tuple element 422,includes a version parameter provided with the presence information. Inthis example, the version parameter has a value of “2.” When used at thetuple level, the version parameter provides information to the watcherindicating whether or not the tuple should be updated. For example, thetuple 422 having an identification, id=“mobile-im,” includes the versionelement 420 having a version number 424 of “2.” If this version numberis higher than an existing version number stored at the client device,then the client should update this tuple, because the higher versionnumber 424 indicates that this is a new version of information for thistuple (i.e., the information has changed).

In one embodiment of the invention where the CPIM specification and PIDFpresence data format is utilized, the presence element 404 will includeat least one tuple that contains a status element. Tuple 422 in FIG. 4includes such a status element 426. The status element 426 providescertain presence status information, and the illustrated status element426 includes a basic element 428, of which the values “open” and“closed” may be specified. These values stand for availability ofreceiving instant messages if the tuple is for an instant messagingaddress, which is the case for the exemplary tuple 422. In theillustrated embodiment, the value “open” 430 is value for the basicelement 428, indicating that the presentity is available for receivinginstant messages. The presence element 404 may include other elements,such as the contact element 432, which includes a URL of the contactaddress. The contact element 432 may include an attribute such as the“priority” attribute 434 that identifies a relative priority of thecontact address over the others.

Other tuples may also be provided in the presence element 404, such asthe tuple 436 having an identification, “id=call”. Within this tuple 436is another element 438, which is an action element 438 in accordancewith the present invention. The action element 438, labeled “PE:action,”indicates the action(s) the client should perform on the particulartuple 436. The particular value associated with the illustrated actionelement 438 is “removed” 440, which in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention indicates to the client that the call tuple no longer hasan associated value for whatever reason, and the client can ignore,remove, etc. the value. Any number of different predetermined actionsmay be associated with such an action element in accordance with thepresent invention.

The representative presence element 404 also includes a mode element442. As previously described, a mode element in accordance with thepresent invention may be used at the document level to indicate that thepresence notification is for an update of a portion of the presenceinformation (i.e., a “partial notification”), or whether thenotification is to provide a complete presence state. In the illustratedembodiment, the value associated with the mode element 442 is an“update” value 444, indicating a partial notification.

As previously indicated, a set of well-defined values (e.g., No_change,No_value, etc.) may be standardized as part of the extension namespaceto provide common behavior in the UE and to facilitate interoperability.As an example of how such standard attribute values may be used, apresence element may include a tuple element, which in turn includes oneor more attributes selected from a set of well-defined attribute values.The representative code segment below is an example of how such standardattribute values may be used.

<presence>    <tuple id=“886647846”>       <attribute_1>        value_1      </attribute_1>       <attribute_2)        value_2      </attribute_2>    </tuple> </presence>

In this example, the UE already has presence information includingattribute_(—)1 having a value of “value_(—)1” and attribute_(—)2 havinga value of “value_(—)2.” When receiving a subsequent notification, theattributes may be changed in a manner as follows:

<presence>    <tuple id=“886647846”>       <attribute_1>       value_new       </attribute_1>       <attribute_2)       no_change       </attribute_2>    </tuple> </presence>As can be seen, the UE can clearly interpret that the attribute_(—)1 hasa new value, and that the UE should retain its current value forattribute_(—)2 because an easily recognized standard value of“no_change” has been assigned to attribute_(—)2.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forproviding partial notifications to a watcher application in accordancewith the present invention. Namespace declarations are created 500,including at least one extension namespace declaration for element typesand attributes associated with partial notifications. A document-levelversion may be identified 502, to enable the client/watcher todetermine, for example, whether it is in synchronization with thepresence server. A mode may be identified 504, to indicate, for example,whether the presence notification provides a complete presence state orwhether the presence notification is a partial update. One or moretuples are created 506. A tuple-level version may be identified 508 forany of these one or more tuples. An action(s) may also be identified 510for one or more of the created tuples. When the presence document hasbeen created, it can be sent to the appropriate watcher application inany desired manner. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, thepresence document is sent to a subscribing watcher application when theassociated presence information changes. Other manners, such as watcherevent-triggered fetching and/or interval polling, may be used.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of amethod for processing presence information received at a client devicein accordance with the present invention. The presence notification isreceived 600, where the presence notification may be created at apresence server or other entity in a manner such as that described inconnection with FIG. 5. If a document level version is included in thepresence information as determined at decision block 602, it isdetermined 604 whether the document level version indicates that theclient is in synchronization with the presence server. In one embodimentof the invention, this is determined by comparing the document-levelversion with a stored value at the client, and if the document levelversion is greater than the client value by two or more, the client haslost synchronization with the presence server. In such a case, all ofthe presence tuples are requested 606 from the presence server.

If a mode is provided with the presence information as determined atdecision block 608, it is determined 610 whether the mode indicates if apartial update is to be performed. If not, the complete presence stateis updated 612. Otherwise, in the case of a partial update, one or moretuples may include a version value. Whether a tuple includes atuple-level version is determined at decision block 614. If the tupleincludes a tuple-level version value in accordance with the presentinvention, it is determined 616 whether the version has changed, whichin one embodiment is ascertained by determining whether the clientversion is equal to the tuple-level version provided with the presenceinformation. If the values are equal, then no change of presenceinformation has occurred over what the client already knows, and thetuple is not updated 618. Otherwise, the tuple is updated 620. For anyof the tuples, it may also be determined 622 whether the particulartuple includes an action in accordance with the present invention. Ifso, the action(s) is performed 624.

The present invention may be used in connection with different interfacedata formats, protocols, etc. FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating anexemplary embodiment of a method for communicating information betweenpresence servers and terminals coupled to the presence servers via anetwork, independent of any particular interface format. At least onepresentity to which a terminal/watcher has requested presence servicesis identified 700. A presence document is created 702, where thepresence document includes presence information corresponding to thepresentity. The presence information is configured 704 as partialpresence information including less than the totality of the presenceinformation available for that presentity. The presence document,including the partial presence information, is communicated 706 to theterminal(s) that requested the presence information.

The terminals having the watcher applications described in connectionwith the present invention may be any number of terminals, includingdesktop/personal computers, workstations, large-scale computingterminals, wireless terminals, or any other computing device capable ofexecuting presence awareness applications. The wireless terminalsinclude devices such as wireless/cellular telephones, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), or other wireless handsets, as well as portablecomputing devices. The mobile terminals utilize computing components tocontrol and manage the conventional device activity as well as thefunctionality provided by the present invention. Hardware, firmware,software or a combination thereof may be used to perform the variouswatcher application functions and associated features as describedherein. For purposes of illustration and not of limitation, an exampleof a representative mobile terminal computing system capable of carryingout operations in accordance with the invention is illustrated in FIG.8. It should be recognized, however, that the principles of the presentinvention are equally applicable to standard computing systems.

The exemplary mobile computing arrangement 800 suitable for performingthe watcher application functions in accordance with the presentinvention includes a processing/control unit 802, such as amicroprocessor, reduced instruction set computer (RISC), or othercentral processing module. The processing unit 802 need not be a singledevice, and may include one or more processors. For example, theprocessing unit 802 may include a master processor and associated slaveprocessors coupled to communicate with the master processor.

The processing unit 802 controls the basic functions of the mobileterminal as dictated by programs available in the storage/memory 804.Thus, the processing unit 802 executes the functions associated with thewatcher functions and associated features of the present invention. Moreparticularly, the storage/memory 804 may include an operating system andprogram modules for carrying out functions and applications on themobile terminal. For example, the program storage may include one ormore of read-only memory (ROM), flash ROM, programmable and/or erasableROM, random access memory (RAM), subscriber interface module (SIM),wireless interface module (WWI), smart card, or other removable memorydevice, etc. The program modules and associated features may also betransmitted to the mobile computing arrangement 800 via data signals,such as being downloaded electronically via a network, such as theInternet.

One of the programs that may be stored in the storage/memory 804 is awatcher program 806. As previously described, the watcher program 806can fetch and/or subscribe to presence information of one or morepresentities. The watcher 806 and associated features may be implementedin software and/or firmware operable by way of the processor 802. Theprogram storage/memory 804 may also be used to store data 808, such asthe various document and tuple version values, or other data associatedwith the present invention. In one embodiment of the invention, theprograms 806 and data 808 are stored in non-volatileelectrically-erasable, programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash ROM, etc. sothat the information is not lost upon power down of the mobile terminal800.

The processor 802 is also coupled to user interface 810 elementsassociated with the mobile terminal. The user interface 810 of themobile terminal may include, for example, a display 812 such as a liquidcrystal display, a keypad 814, speaker 816, and microphone 818. Theseand other user interface components are coupled to the processor 802 asis known in the art. The keypad 814 includes alpha-numeric keys forperforming a variety of functions, including dialing numbers andexecuting operations assigned to one or more keys. Alternatively, otheruser interface mechanisms may be employed, such as voice commands,switches, touch pad/screen, graphical user interface using a pointingdevice, trackball, joystick, or any other user interface mechanism.

The mobile computing arrangement 800 may also include a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 820. The DSP 820 may perform a variety of functions,including analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion, digital-to-analog (D/A)conversion, speech coding/decoding, encryption/decryption, errordetection and correction, bit stream translation, filtering, etc. Thetransceiver 822, generally coupled to an antenna 824, transmits andreceives the radio signals associated with the wireless device.

The mobile computing arrangement 800 of FIG. 8 is provided as arepresentative example of a computing environment in which theprinciples of the present invention may be applied. From the descriptionprovided herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that thepresent invention is equally applicable in a variety of other currentlyknown and future mobile computing environments. For example, the watcherapplication 806 and associated features, and data 808, may be stored ina variety of manners, may be operable on a variety of processingdevices, and may be operable in mobile devices having additional, fewer,or different supporting circuitry and user interface mechanisms. It isnoted that the principles of the present invention are equallyapplicable to non-mobile terminals, i.e., landline computing systems.

The presence servers or other systems for providing presence informationin connection with the present invention may be any type of computingdevice capable of processing and communicating presence information. Thepresence servers utilize computing systems to control and manage thepresence awareness activity. An example of a representative computingsystem capable of carrying out operations in accordance with theinvention is illustrated in FIG. 9. Hardware, firmware, software or acombination thereof may be used to perform the various presenceawareness functions and operations described herein. The computingstructure 900 of FIG. 9 is an example computing structure that can beused in connection with such a presence system.

The example computing arrangement 900 suitable for performing thepresence activity in accordance with the present invention includes thepresence server 901, which includes a central processor (CPU) 902coupled to random access memory (RAM) 904 and read-only memory (ROM)906. The ROM 906 may also be other types of storage media to storeprograms, such as programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), etc.The processor 902 may communicate with other internal and externalcomponents through input/output (I/O) circuitry 908 and bussing 910, toprovide control signals and the like. The processor 902 carries out avariety of functions as is known in the art, as dictated by softwareand/or firmware instructions.

The server 901 may also include one or more data storage devices,including hard and floppy disk drives 912, CD-ROM drives 914, and otherhardware capable of reading and/or storing information such as DVD, etc.In one embodiment, software for carrying out the partial presencenotification operations in accordance with the present invention may bestored and distributed on a CD-ROM 916, diskette 918 or other form ofmedia capable of portably storing information. These storage media maybe inserted into, and read by, devices such as the CD-ROM drive 914, thedisk drive 912, etc. The software may also be transmitted to thepresence server 901 via data signals, such as being downloadedelectronically via a network, such as the Internet. The server 901 iscoupled to a display 920, which may be any type of known display orpresentation screen, such as LCD displays, plasma display, cathode raytubes (CRT), etc. A user input interface 922 is provided, including oneor more user interface mechanisms such as a mouse, keyboard, microphone,touch pad, touch screen, voice-recognition system, etc.

The server 901 is coupled to other computing devices, such as thelandline and/or wireless terminals and associated watcher applications,via a network. The server may be part of a larger network configurationas in a global area network (GAN) such as the Internet 928, which allowsultimate connection to the various landline and/or mobile client/watcherdevices.

Using the description provided herein, the invention may be implementedas a machine, process, or article of manufacture by using standardprogramming and/or engineering techniques to produce programmingsoftware, firmware, hardware or any combination thereof.

Any resulting program(s), having computer-readable program code, may beembodied on one or more computer-usable media such as resident memorydevices, smart cards or other removable memory devices, or transmittingdevices, thereby making a computer program product or article ofmanufacture according to the invention. As such, the terms “article ofmanufacture” and “computer program product” as used herein are intendedto encompass a computer program that exists permanently or temporarilyon any computer-usable medium or in any transmitting medium whichtransmits such a program..

As indicated above, memory/storage devices include, but are not limitedto, disks, optical disks, removable memory devices such as smart cards,SIMs, WIMs, semiconductor memories such as RAM, ROM, PROMS, etc.Transmitting mediums include, but are not limited to, transmissions viawireless/radio wave communication networks, the Internet, intranets,telephone/modem-based network communication, hard-wired/cabledcommunication network, satellite communication, and other stationary ormobile network systems/communication links.

From the description provided herein, those skilled in the art arereadily able to combine software created as described with appropriategeneral purpose or special purpose computer hardware to create a mobilecomputer system and/or computer subcomponents embodying the invention,and to create a mobile computer system and/or computer subcomponents forcarrying out the method of the invention.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiment of the inventionhas been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. Itis not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of theinvention not be limited with these illustrated embodiments, but ratherthe scope of the invention may be ascertained from the claims appendedhereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-readable medium having instructionsstored thereon which are executable by a computer system forcommunicating presence information between presence servers andterminals coupled to the presence servers via a network by performingsteps comprising: identifying at least one presentity to which aterminal has requested presence services; creating a presence documentincluding presence information corresponding to the presentity;configuring the presence information as partial presence informationcomprising less than a total of the presence information available forthe presentity; and communicating the presence document having thepartial presence information to the terminal requesting the presenceinformation.